Free The Project by Brian Falkner Page B

sight. Eventually, the man emerged from the hotel and got back into the car, which accelerated smoothly away and caught the next green light, turning left.
    “Through the hotel!” Tommy yelled. They headed straight for the automatic doors of the hotel lobby, which opened to let them through. They went right in front of the startled reception staff and out through the automatic doors at the other end.
    The silver car shot past the end of the pedestrian mall as they emerged, heading north on Linn Street. They took off down Dubuque, through the water fountain, surprising a group of students who were sitting in the lotus position with their hands, palms upward, on their knees.
    Ducking and diving through pathways and alleys, they managed to keep up with the car for about five minutes butlost it as it sped through a couple of green traffic lights along Gilbert Street. It didn’t matter, though, because by that time Luke had a good idea where it was going. They took a shortcut through Fairchild, and when they pulled onto Dodge Street, he knew that he was right.
    The silver car was sitting outside a house.
    An old three-story creepy
Psycho
house.
    Luke’s house.

15. THE GIFT
    T hey waited for Mullins to leave, unsure whether to call the police.
    After a while, Luke’s mother came out with Mullins, smiling. She shook his hand, and he kissed her on the cheek, which made Luke shudder. She waved as the car pulled away.
    “Shall we follow him?” Tommy asked.
    Luke shook his head. The car was already almost out of sight, turning the corner. “We know where he’s staying now,” he said. “We can pick up the trail there later. I want to get home and find out what’s going on.”
    “Oh, there you are,” his mother said as they ran up the steps to the front door. “You just missed Mr. Mullins.”
    “Really?” Luke said. “We met him earlier at the library. What did he want?”
    “He left you this,” his mother said, handing him an envelope with the Central Hotel logo on it. “He said it was areward for your actions. Said you had helped save the library or something like that. You never told us anything about that!”
    Luke shrugged. “There wasn’t much to tell, and there were a lot of people helping, not just us.”
    He opened the envelope. Inside was a crisp one-hundred-dollar bill. He would have been excited if he hadn’t known the truth about the generous Mr. Mullins.
    “What about Tommy? He helped, too.”
    “Yes, yes,” his mother said, “I expect there will be a little surprise for you when you get home as well, Tommy. I gave him your address.”
    Tommy and Luke looked at each other in horror.
    “What’s the matter, boys?” his mother asked. “You don’t seem very excited.”

16. DETECTIVE WORK
    I owa City is full of libraries. The university libraries, the public library, the medical library, the hospital library, the science library, and on it goes. Libraries are full of books.
    And books are full of clues, if you know where to look.
    Luke didn’t, but Tommy did, although he had to do some convincing.
    “I hate reading,” Luke said, shaking his head. “I’d rather be outside doing something useful.”
    They had ridden straight from Luke’s house to the public library in the pedestrian mall.
    “Dude, get over yourself,” Tommy said. “Mullins is up to something, and it has to do with that book. We need information, and the best place to start is right here.”
    Luke looked up at the sandstone-colored walls of the library. The main doors glowered at him like the entrance to a dark, creepy cave full of dangerous creatures.
    “How ’bout I go and stake out the hotel,” he said. “You can do the research.”
    “It would take too long,” Tommy said. “We both need to do it.”
    “Okay, okay,” Luke said, still staring at the gaping mouth of the library.
    “Don’t think of it as reading or research,” Tommy said. “It’s detective work. We are looking for vital clues. It’s Operation